Football, 'The Voice' and 'Blacklist' have more than compensated for some weak rookie perfs

Its new series on Wednesday and Thursday have struggled, but NBC is easily the top-rated network in young adults after the first month of the season.

Buoyed by “Sunday Night Football,” hot newcomer “The Blacklist” and two-night music contest “The Voice,” NBC is up slightly vs. last year in the adults 18-49 demo and is at its highest rating through four weeks in six years. CBS is in second place (down 4% from last year through four weeks), followed by ABC (even) and Fox (down 4%).

The Peacock is also on top in adults 25-54, while CBS is leading as usual in total viewers.

Last week, NBC crushed its rivals behind the biggest “Sunday Night Football” game of the season (10.0/27 in 18-49, 26.94m), as the Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning returned to Indianapolis to take on his former team, the Colts, for the first time. This was the franchise’s No. 4-rated game in its eight seasons to date.

“The Voice” also played a key role for NBC, winning on Monday (4.5/12 in 18-49, 13.78m) and Tuesday (4.0/11 in 18-49, 12.99m) and ranking in the top 10. Airing behind “Voice,” both “The Blacklist” (3.0/8 in 18-49, 10.93m) and “Chicago Fire” (2.3/7 in 18-49, 8.08m) were the top series in their timeslots as well.

Also for the net, “The Biggest Loser” opened its season with OK numbers (2.3/7 in 18-49, 7.16m) opposite tough Tuesday competition.

NBC stayed on stop despite the fact that “Ironside” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.80m) and “Welcome to the Family” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.42m) put up third-week numbers that resulted in their cancellation. Two other new shows, Thursday comedies “Sean Saves the World” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 3.36m) and “The Michael J. Fox Show” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 3.56m), are staying put despite their own low numbers, with the net announcing moves last week designed to provide a stronger lead-in for the shows.

Elsewhere, CBS ran second in key demos and claimed more top 20 programs in 18-49 (seven) than any other network. The Eye was paced as usual by “The Big Bang Theory” (5.2/17 in 18-49, 17.80m) but also got another good performance by its lead-out, “The Millers” (3.2/9 in 18-49, 12.27m). Up a tick week to week, “Millers” in its third week retained 97% of its 18-49 premiere rating — higher than any new series this fall.

Also of note for CBS, “NCIS” (3.1/9 in 18-49, 18.83m) beat ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD” head-to-head in 18-49, and reality shows “Survivor” (2.6/8 in 18-49, 10.11m) and “Undercover Boss” (1.8/7 in 18-49, 9.18m) won their hours and logged week-over-week gains. “Boss” hasn’t done a higher 18-49 rating since February.

ABC was led by “Modern Family” (4.1/11 in 18-49, 10.94m) and “Scandal” (3.3/10 in 18-49, 9.51m), the latter of which built on its “Grey’s Anatomy” lead-in by a best-yet 22% and stood as broadcast TV’s top-rated drama of the week in 18-49.

Among new shows, Tuesday’s “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” stablilized (2.8/8 in 18-49, 7.85m), but “The Goldbergs” (1.6/4 in 18-49, 5.05m) and “Trophy Wife” (1.3/3 in 18-49, 4.12m) continued to fall behind it. Also, Wednesday’s “Super Fun Night” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 5.95m) slid some more in its third week, Thursday’s “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.53m) was off nearly 30% from its already soft premiere score, and Sunday’s “Betrayal” edged up but remains low (0.9/2 in 18-49, 3.51m).

ABC scored Wednesday with the half-hour special “Toy Story of Terror” (3.1/10 in 18-49, 10.54m), which scared up the net’s best 18-49 rating in the timeslot in nearly two years and its highest number in kids 2-11 (5.8/19) in six years.

Fox opened the week with more good numbers for “Sleepy Hollow” (2.7/7 in 18-49, 7.59m) and an improved perf by “Dads” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 3.42m) before turning things over to baseball for three of the next four nights. The American League Championship Series between Boston and Detroit concluded Saturday with a 2.3/8 in 18-49 and a series-best 9.04 million total viewers.

For the six-game Red Sox-Tigers series, Fox averaged 7.74 million viewers, its largest LCS audience in three years. The National League Championship Series on TBS averaged 4.96 million, down from last year but up a bit from the last time the net aired the NLCS in 2011 (4.61 million).

Newcomer “Junior MasterChef” continues to be a good Friday performer for Fox (1.3/5 in 18-49, 3.96m) and has been a notable gainer in DVR playback.

CW had a decent start on Thursday for “Reign” (0.8/2 in 18-49, 1.98m), airing behind “The Vampire Diaries” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 2.93m), which was on the upswing week to week. “Vampire Diaries” spinoff “The Originals” had a good second showing in its Tuesday timeslot (1.1/3 in 18-49, 2.22m), seeming to benefit from not having to face “The Voice.” It combined with “Supernatural” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 2.33m) to give CW its best nightly average on a Tuesday in four years and its best 18-34 delivery in more than two years.

In cable, AMC’s “The Walking Dead” remained a monster in its second week of the season (7.1/18 in 18-49, 13.95m), down 13% from its premiere but still easily the show’s second best numbers to date and the No. 1 entertainment series for all of television last week in 18-49. Its lead-out discussion program, “Talking Dead,” was the top non-sports program in its 10 p.m. slot (2.6/7 in 18-49, 4.85m).

After “Walking Dead,” FX had the week’s next two highest-rated cable dramas in 18-49, “American Horror Story” (2.5/7 in 18-49, 4.51m) and “Sons of Anarchy” (2.3/7 in 18-49, 4.36m). “Horror” beat “CSI” head-to-head in 18-49 on Wednesday, while “Sons” tied with NBC’s “Chicago Fire” on Tuesday.

NETWORK AVERAGES

Adults 18-49

NBC 3.0/9
CBS 2.3/7
ABC 1.9/6
Fox 1.8/5
UNI 1.2/4
CW 0.8/2
TEL 0.6/2

Total Viewers

CBS 10.33 million
NBC 9.33 million
ABC 7.04 million
Fox 6.15 million
UNI 3.25 million
CW 1.88 million
TEL 1.46 million